Nokia cuts more jobs in Finland

Nokia is to cut another 350 jobs as part of efforts to achieve annual savings of €700 million by the end of next year.

The latest redundancies will impact the company’s workforce in Finland, with state broadcaster YLE stating that only one facility in Oulu will be unaffected.

Of the company’s 100,000-strong workforce, just 6,000 are still located in Finland thanks to a series of job cuts caused by a dramatic reversal of fortunes in the mobile phone market and the disastrous takeover by Microsoft.

Nokia job cuts

Half of the remaining 6,000 roles are located at head office in Espoo, with the rest employed in Tampere and in Oulu. It is thought that future cost-cutting will also affect other countries, depending on local legislation and practices.

"Ongoing cost monitoring is vital in our industry and the planned changes are indispensable to safeguard Nokia's long-term competitiveness," Tommi Uitto, the head of Nokia’s Finnish business.

Nokia has embarked on a series of cost-cutting measures, including large-scale job cuts, over the past few years as it balances the impact of slowing demand for 4G telecommunications kit with the need to invest in 5G technologies.

Oulu, in the north of the country, is critical to these efforts. Nokia’s facility there comprises both radio R&D and a base station manufacturing facility. Design and manufacturing are integrated so that Nokia’s 5G products can be tested in the factory and make it more efficient.

Nokia will compete with the likes of Ericsson and Huawei in the market for 5G equipment and the Finnish giant will hope to capitalise on the recent struggles of its Chinese competitor.